1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a portable shelter kit which is usable for erecting a temporary or long term shelter, and to a method of using the kit to construct a shelter. More particularly, the present invention relates to a portable shelter kit including a two-part shipping container which comes apart into pieces which are usable as component parts of the shelter.
2. Description of the Background Art
Sometimes, in the aftermath of extreme weather events such as floods, hurricanes or other storms, or in other situations such as forced relocations or the like, where people have temporarily been rendered homeless, there is a need for quickly erectable temporary housing. A need also exists for storage structures which can be quickly and easily assembled in times of need.
A number of different kits are known for use in erecting temporary housing or storage structures.
Examples of some of the known temporary housing or storage structures include those described in Field, U.S. Pat. No. 3,387,733, Foster, U.S. Pat. No. 4,272,930, Watson, U.S. Pat. No. 5,083,410, Sadler, U.S. Pat. No. 5,184,436, Larsen, U.S. Pat. No. 5,447,000, Pascoe, U.S. Pat. No. 5,319,904, Tennant, U.S. Pat. No. 5,657,583, Schooley, U.S. Pat. No. 8,381,455, Helin et al., International Application WO 00/66846, Day, US publication 2008-0263968, Esposito US published application 2009-0223143, and Hutter, US publication 2011-0185644.
Although the known temporary shelter kits have some utility for their intended purposes, a need still exists in the art for an improved, simplified, temporary shelter kit which is capable of being stored in a compact and stackable configuration, which is capable of quickly being assembled with a minimal number of tools, and which does not require a high level of mechanical skill to assemble.